Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. It is Wednesday morning, which means it
Speaker 1: is time for Buccaneers Insider Live, presented by Miller light
Speaker 1: Casey Phillips. Here was senior writer and editor Scott Smith.
Speaker 1: And as you can tell, I get a fancy new
Speaker 1: background today and this I'm in the control room at
Speaker 1: the stadium, which is very cool. We have something going
Speaker 1: on at the stadium later, so I figured it'd be
Speaker 1: easier to just go ahead and head on over here
Speaker 1: and a little bit of a sneak peek on maybe
Speaker 1: what Insider is gonna look like moving forward. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know this is what people live for, right is
Speaker 1: news about the program that brings them the news. But yes,
Speaker 1: so soon Scott and I will be doing our show
Speaker 1: from in here. It's gonna be awesome for now. Of course,
Speaker 1: this is where we take all of your questions, thoughts, comments,
Speaker 1: all of the things you're not already watching on the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers Facebook page. You can head on over there, and
Speaker 1: that is where I will find them as in the
Speaker 1: comment section underneath our live videos. As we get people
Speaker 1: a chance to start leaving them there. I figured we
Speaker 1: would talk about some of the upcoming things on the
Speaker 1: schedule that this time of year. I know it can
Speaker 1: seem like there's not a lot going on, but thankfully
Speaker 1: we will have. We have a couple of things already
Speaker 1: in progress. Where tell us a little bit about the
Speaker 1: franchise tag deadlines. Yeah, the franchise tag window, the window
Speaker 1: for putting franchise or transition tags on your players, actually
Speaker 1: open yesterday, which was Tuesday. Did you notice that yesterday? Yes,
Speaker 1: it was already. It was already a big day for
Speaker 1: anybody who like that kind of thing. But then it's
Speaker 1: the beginning of the franchise tag window. Though honestly, they
Speaker 1: probably just should say when the franchise tag deadline is,
Speaker 1: because teams genuinely wait till the very end of it anyway,
Speaker 1: just in case something happens that's relevant. There's no rush
Speaker 1: to put the tag on right now. They can't become
Speaker 1: a free agent until like eight days after the franchise
Speaker 1: tag windows, So I don't think you're gonna see a
Speaker 1: ton of activity on that until you get much closer
Speaker 1: to the March eighth deadline. But you might start seeing
Speaker 1: some teams using those tags at this point, and the
Speaker 1: Books could be one of them, right, And so tell
Speaker 1: people a little bit again about who we think has
Speaker 1: a chance of it being used on who even qualifies
Speaker 1: for that. Just a little bit more about how that works. Well,
Speaker 1: there's three types of tags you can use. There's an
Speaker 1: exclusive franchise tag and there's a non exclusive franchise tag.
Speaker 1: And as those names suggest, one of them, the exclusive
Speaker 1: one means nobody else can negotiate with this player, and
Speaker 1: the exclusive non exclusive one says other teams can negotiate
Speaker 1: with the player. And the reason you would choose non
Speaker 1: exclusive over exclusive is because the formula for figuring out
Speaker 1: the one year salary comes out a little bit lower
Speaker 1: because it's like the average of the top ten guys
Speaker 1: at the position rather than top five. It's more complicated
Speaker 1: than that, but that's the basic idea. Um. If you
Speaker 1: run an exclusive tag and another team signs you to
Speaker 1: an offer, the home team has the h has the
Speaker 1: team that owned that player originally, I mean owned the
Speaker 1: team that had the contract that player originally has the
Speaker 1: right to match, and if they don't match, they get
Speaker 1: compensation and it's usually like two first round draft picks.
Speaker 1: So even though it's a non exclusive tag, you almost
Speaker 1: never see those players go to other teams. And then
Speaker 1: the transition tag is like the non exclusive tag, except
Speaker 1: you don't get any compensation if you don't match. So
Speaker 1: it's just a matter of how much do you want
Speaker 1: to commit to the salary and how much protection that
Speaker 1: gives you for keeping that player. And as we talked
Speaker 1: about when we discussed this this idea last week, to me,
Speaker 1: the most likely one on the Buck's long list of
Speaker 1: free agents is cornerback Carlton Davis. Uh. It's just hard
Speaker 1: to let a twenty five year old, potential shutdown cornerback go,
Speaker 1: and that's a really hard thing to develop in the NFL.
Speaker 1: And so I know the Buckets will try to keep
Speaker 1: Carlton as much as I possibly can. Okay, And the
Speaker 1: next on the schedule is the Combine. I know you
Speaker 1: and I are both going to be heading out there
Speaker 1: next week. You'll be there to hear UH coach and
Speaker 1: Jason speak whenever they have their press conferences, and I'll
Speaker 1: be doing some interviews with some of our scouting department
Speaker 1: another front office people. So make sure everybody stays tuned
Speaker 1: for all the coverage on that on Buccaneers dot com.
Speaker 1: But UH, tell us a little bit about the Combine
Speaker 1: after not having it last year, what we thought it
Speaker 1: might look like this year, what we think it is
Speaker 1: gonna look like, and how that could potentially affect being
Speaker 1: able to find some of these players is compared to
Speaker 1: years like last year where it didn't exist. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, a little more on what you're talking about
Speaker 1: about what we're gonna be doing up there. We are
Speaker 1: also on Buccaneers got dot Com going to carry the
Speaker 1: Bruce Arians and Jason light press conferences from the podiums live,
Speaker 1: so you can watch that. I'll be there covering it
Speaker 1: and tweeting about it. Those two guys generally also do
Speaker 1: an off camera session, just a little roundtable with any
Speaker 1: Buccaneers writers that are there, So there's even more to
Speaker 1: get from that, and I'll be reporting on that as well,
Speaker 1: and then we'll have our show from there on Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: Um right, yep, absolutely, so that's gonna be great. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so I know there was some interesting news
Speaker 1: about the combine itself recently. Yeah, the NFL had announced
Speaker 1: that the players are going to be in a bubble,
Speaker 1: pretty restrictive bubble while they were there, and for obvious reasons.
Speaker 1: You know what the motivation for that was. But I
Speaker 1: think the part that really UM a lot of the
Speaker 1: players and their agents didn't like was they were. They
Speaker 1: would have been restricted to one support person, so they
Speaker 1: only have one, say, trainer, and some of them have
Speaker 1: a number of trainers and others that are there to
Speaker 1: help them with the medical side of it, with getting
Speaker 1: right ready for their workouts and optimizing the workouts. And
Speaker 1: so I think around a hundred and fifth years so
Speaker 1: UH prospects had protested and there was the possibility of
Speaker 1: them not coming, and the NFL has since decided to
Speaker 1: scrap the bubble prospect the bubble idea, and it will
Speaker 1: be more like a regular combine. And so it looks
Speaker 1: like all three are in thirty or so prospects are
Speaker 1: going to be there, so you know, as always the combine,
Speaker 1: it is a great opportunity. Even though these guys are
Speaker 1: very well scouted by scouts and coaches around the league
Speaker 1: and here in this building through their game tape. UH,
Speaker 1: they it's a really good opportunity for the entire league
Speaker 1: to be in one spot and for teams to be
Speaker 1: able to get a whole lot of one on one
Speaker 1: interviews with these players. Last year, those those interviews had
Speaker 1: to be done by Zoom and as Jason Lats has said,
Speaker 1: they did a great job of making it work. But
Speaker 1: clearly this is a better opportunity for both the players
Speaker 1: and the personnel people in the league. So getting everybody
Speaker 1: in the same spot and getting those meetings is probably
Speaker 1: the part that teams missed last year that they're going
Speaker 1: to enjoy this year, okay, And then getting to some
Speaker 1: of our questions from the Facebook page, age asked, how
Speaker 1: do you see the backfield shaping up? Who do you
Speaker 1: see staying? Who do you see leaving offensive backfield? I
Speaker 1: assume that means so the only two guys that are
Speaker 1: under contract right now are Keyshaw Vaughan and Kenyan Barner. Um.
Speaker 1: Keyshawn Vaughan, I would assume he would stay and maybe
Speaker 1: get a chance at a bigger role. Leonard Fournette and
Speaker 1: Ronald Jones and Giovanni Bernard as well. But for Neette
Speaker 1: and Jones, who went into last season sort of list
Speaker 1: as one A, one B as starters, they're both unrestricted
Speaker 1: free agents. I would be shocked if we got both
Speaker 1: of them back. I think the Buccaneers would would probably
Speaker 1: love to get one of them back. Um Leonard Fournette
Speaker 1: obviously took over as the main back. He was so
Speaker 1: great in the playoffs all the way to the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and then even though at the beginning of last year,
Speaker 1: Bruce arians was calling for Jones starters one A and
Speaker 1: one B, basically it didn't take for Nette long to
Speaker 1: really take over that role. And the fact that he's
Speaker 1: a decent pass catcher, high volume pass catcher, really out
Speaker 1: of the backfield and his blocking has improved me you
Speaker 1: could put him on the field for three downs and
Speaker 1: I think that's why. Probably he was the guy that
Speaker 1: really grabbed that biggest part of the role. So I
Speaker 1: would think he'd be a guy the Buccaneers would like
Speaker 1: that back, but after playing on two consecutive one year deals,
Speaker 1: he might be looking for something a little bit long,
Speaker 1: more long term. Okay, And our next one is from Jonathan.
Speaker 1: He asked, do you think Gronk will stay with the Bucks?
Speaker 1: And then I'll kind of add to that of just
Speaker 1: in general, what do you think that tight end room
Speaker 1: could look like? And I mean for years it's been
Speaker 1: something that the Bucks have not needed to look at
Speaker 1: and draft and free agency, it was just it was
Speaker 1: one of the most set rooms there were. What do
Speaker 1: you think could potentially it could look like this year
Speaker 1: some of the changes that could be made, and do
Speaker 1: you think Gronk will be a part of it. You know,
Speaker 1: Rob Gronkowski decided to come back after his one year
Speaker 1: of retirement. I'm sure part of that was because he
Speaker 1: felt better. Um, you know, he originally retired basically just
Speaker 1: because of an accumulation of injuries and aches and pains,
Speaker 1: and and after a year off he felt better. But
Speaker 1: I'm not sure he would have come out of retirement
Speaker 1: if it hadn't been to play with Tom Brady. And
Speaker 1: now that Tom Brady has said he won't be playing, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think to me, that's a domino in
Speaker 1: the direction of Rob Gronkowski not coming back. Now, I
Speaker 1: hope that's not the case, because yes, he has a
Speaker 1: special connection with with Tom Brady, but he could still
Speaker 1: be a very very valuable piece of the offense with
Speaker 1: any quarterback we had out there. So I just thought
Speaker 1: when Tom Brady retired that that would be if you
Speaker 1: were if you were nudging Rob Gronkowski in one direction
Speaker 1: or other, that I would seen nudge and more towards
Speaker 1: not coming back. And then uh, come wrong, Hope I'm wrong, Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: I I agree, um Cord had brought up the free
Speaker 1: agents on the defensive line and what that group could
Speaker 1: potentially look like this next year. Okay, so the free
Speaker 1: agent Sary and Dominican Sue and if we're calling, are
Speaker 1: we I guess we're probably counting the addressers as part
Speaker 1: of that. So j PP when domin Kan Sue, Will Golston, Uh,
Speaker 1: Steve McClendon, Oh, I do have a list over there,
Speaker 1: Steve mcclindon. I think that's it. Um, Patrick Cock Connors
Speaker 1: are a restrictive free agent. Oh in Dominican Sue? Did
Speaker 1: I say that one? Yeah? Um? Yeah? Again? Is the
Speaker 1: Dominicant suite part is he's been playing on one year
Speaker 1: contracts for a number of years now, which has always
Speaker 1: led me to believe that he is contemplating each offseason
Speaker 1: if he wants to continue his career. You know, he's
Speaker 1: already played twelve seasons and he never misses a game
Speaker 1: and for most of his career has played a huge
Speaker 1: number of snaps. So this is a guy that's played
Speaker 1: a lot of football. Uh. Still very effective for us
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, obviously, But I think that
Speaker 1: all comes down to him. Uh, it's pretty obvious from
Speaker 1: hearing Will Golston talk that he loves being in Tampa,
Speaker 1: that he really likes his fit here with this team
Speaker 1: and especially in this defense. His career has really been rejuvenated,
Speaker 1: I think over the last three years because he's been
Speaker 1: such a perfect fit in Todd Bowles's defense. So, you know,
Speaker 1: assuming that they can make that price work, I we
Speaker 1: think he'd want to come back. He's already played two
Speaker 1: full contracts, which is pretty awesome, especially for a fourth
Speaker 1: row pick. And then you're talking about Steve McClendon JPP.
Speaker 1: JPP may have a lot to do with how he
Speaker 1: feels um and I don't know. I really can't speak
Speaker 1: much to what Steve mcclinton's plans might be. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: that is going to do it for us on this
Speaker 1: edition of Buccaneers Insider Live presented by Miller Lite. Thanks
Speaker 1: as always for those amazing questions and we will see
Speaker 1: you next week from the Combine in Indianapolis. To make
Speaker 1: sure you tune in